


Her Name Was Argo

by I_Got_Lost



Category: The Argonautica
Genre: Apollonious of Rhodes, Apollonious was an idiot, Classics for the win, Other, The Argo talks, The Argo was never actually quoted, The Original Epic, Yes that one - Freeform, only summerized, read the book, two lines but its there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 20:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17250674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Got_Lost/pseuds/I_Got_Lost
Summary: One-Shot which attempts to explain the interference of Athena with the Dodonan Oaks and how it might have affected the story. Was for a University course, and then this happened.Classics Major, don't ask...





	Her Name Was Argo

It is said by men long past, that the Dodonan Oaks could discern the future by the way the wind slipped through their branches and by the way the sunlight filtered through their leaves. The Dodonan Oaks stood proud and strong, unbending to any god. So, when Bright-eyed Athena stepped into the grove, the world grew still and took note.

“King Pelias attempts to triumph over the moria. King Pelias attempts to rule the fates. King Pelias wills for Jason to die.” The goddess bared her teeth. “King Pelias wishes to live.” Zeus’ daughter snarled.

A breeze rustled through the branches of the oaks, mutters of lost sandals and sailors, quests and victories, journeys and failures, echoed. The Bright-eyed goddess smiled. “Jason will need a ship, the best in the land.”

The oaks grew still, the wind dying at the supple goddess’ words. At once, anger sparked in the grove, branches slashed, and leaves trembled. The goddess knew not what she asked.  
For the grove to give a tree…

For an oak to leave…

To lose it’s voice…

To lose it’s sight…

Rage was not a strong enough word to describe the throb in the grove’s heart. But the bright-eyed goddess did not flatter. “Argus will build a ship and he will need a keel. I ask for a sacrifice, an oak to keep the ship steady, just as you have stood steady in this grove.”

The oaks would have wept had they the ability, instead, they silently screamed as the bright-eyed goddess, like the winged messenger himself, stole one of their daughters away.

...***...

There was a voice, she realized, a low croon that whispered to her as she slowly woke up. It was comforting, she thought, but it wasn’t the voice of her brothers and sisters. It wasn’t the voice of the wind either. Unsettled, she stumbled back a step. Grit slipped under her feet and the wind blew through her hair. Sunlight shone on her head and she could hear the waves crash in the distance. This wasn’t the grove, she realized with dread, this was not her home.

...***...

“Its time to wake up child.” Bright-eyes whispered. The oak opened her eyes, a snarl twisting across her lips. But one did not say no to a goddess. The goddess patted her head. “Come now child, you are no wild nymph. No, you are something far more then that.”

The goddess tilted the oak’s head towards the crooning voice, both their gazes settled on the young man who stood shaping the wood. The oak almost wailed when she saw her branches stripped and her trunk whittled into shape. The Bright-eyed goddess smiled, her flaxen hair shinning in the sunlight. “His name is Argus, and he will name you name you Argo.”

Argo stared at the ship, at her new home, and tried not to weep. Gone was her grove. Gone was the ability to reach up towards the stars. Gone was the ability to listen to the whispers of the winds. Gone was her home.

The goddess seemed not to notice Argo’s silence. “You will help them. You will bare them. You will save them.”

Argo stared at the bones of her body and felt herself nod.

One did not say no to a goddess.

…***...

Argus turned out to have the most beautiful voice when he decided to talk to her bones. He spoke of his brothers, his father Phrixus, and the beautiful golden fleece that lay draped across the branches of Argo’s sister-oak. She danced around her body and learned, that even though Argus could leave the shipyard, Argo was bound to her body.

At nights she stood alone but for the night watchmen, and she waited at each dawn for Argus to come back to visit her.

Slowly her body came together, and she learned, and she listened. Five tens, and one, answered Jason’s call, and soon came the day she met them. They pushed her body into the sea and as she stood on the prow she frowned. She supposed she should do her best to take care of them, the small saplings that they were. But she had the feeling, this adventure was not going to end well.

As the night wore on and dawn came to peak over the horizon, she felt she had had enough. If this was going to be an adventure she had no choice but to take part in, then they might as well get underway. “Time to go!” she yelled at the men on the shore, hardly expecting a reaction after fruitless months of unheard chatter towards Argus.

She watched in disbelief as everyone startled and stared at her, or rather, the ship. For a moment the world was calm and then Argo looked up to the heavens. For months she had chattered at Argus. For countless hours she had willed for the night watch to come closer, so she wouldn’t be alone. But now, on the dawn of her new journey, the bright-eyed goddess had given her a blessing.

The bright-eyed goddess had taken her from her home, taken her from the winds and the grove, but she had given her a voice.

Argo allowed herself a small smile.

Maybe, just maybe, this journey would end well after all.

**Author's Note:**

> This might later be expanded but also might not,  
> its a long epic guys


End file.
